The invention relates to a method of mounting a plurality of electronic components on a surface of a carrier comprising conductor tracks, utilizing tubular magazines which comprise an upper opening and a lower opening, each magazine containing a stack of components. These magazines are usually arranged in a configuration which is identical to that desired for the components on the carrier. After positioning of the conductor tracks of a carrier so that they correspond to the upper openings of the magazines, the components in each magazine are lifted so that the uppermost component comes to rest against the carrier.
The invention also relates to a device for performing the described method, comprising tubular magazines, each of which contains a stack of components which is supported by a sliding member.
The components for electronic circuits can be subdivided into two general types: components which are flatly arranged on a carrier and components comprising electrical conductors which are passed through holes in the carrier.
The present invention concerns the mounting of components of the first type. The invention relates essentially to the mounting of the components on carriers which are referred to as "substrates" in order to form circuits which are referred to as "hybrid" circuits. The commercially available machines for assembling the hybrid circuits utilize robots which grip the components in a magazine and position the components on the carrier or substrate according to a program and by means of a more or less complex mechanism. The process is sequential, which means that the components are mounted one after the other, either successively by the same robot or at successive stations in an assembly line. These machines have the drawback that they are expensive, difficult to program and comparatively slow because of the sequential process.
Another method of mounting is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,432. This method utilizes vertical tubular magazines in which stacks of components are pushed upwards by means of rods which are moved upwards by way of springs. These rods are permanently arranged in a given configuration, preferably in a regular network. Therefore, the components themselves also have to be arranged according to a grid having the same pitch as the network of rods. However, the section of the magazines may not be larger than the pitch of the network. Thus, there is a drawback in that, if a large pitch is chosen, a large amount of surface area will remain be mounted. Moreover, the springs exert the same force, regardless of the weight of the components.